Deja Voodoo Band: UPDATED! Band Bio

Deja Voodoo Band

Deja Voodoo Band is a high energy Rock/Blues band featuring gritty, emotional vocals, virtuosic guitar playing, rich keyboard sounds & a tight pounding rhythm section. From their hometown, Cleveland, Ohio, they have grown into a solid group since their beginning in 2001, making a mark in their city and now sending their sounds across the states and the big pond.
These veteran players have paid their dues and can boast a long list of credits including many national performers and bands.

Guitarist Mark Verba’s
style of guitar licks and tasteful blues solos grew out of his start in metal bands at the age of sixteen. Verba soon joined older players and learned to love the blues while maintaining his fast style and love of tone. Verba’s influences include Gary Moore, Walter Trout and Ritchie Kotzen. He has become an expert on what it takes to make an amp, guitar, pedals, and pickups work as one instrument. Mark has become a tone addict always looking for the perfect mix. When Verba plays guitar the other axe folk come to watch.

Vocalist and Harmonica player D.C. came to the world of blues very early. He says he still remembers playing his first 45 as a young boy. That record, Booker T and the MGs “Green Onions” and the B side “Bumpin’ on Sunset” surely explains his love for a good melody and the blues. Grabbing a harmonica early in life D.C. taught himself to play. As D.C. puts it “I played with all the greats”. Well the real story is he did play with Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, the Allman Brothers, and on and on –but only in his living room while honing his chops. D.C became very fond of the playing of bluesman James Cotton and developed his own style of fast licks from what he heard Cotton laying down. D.C. raised his family (both his boys are guitarists who play in Chicago bands) and then decided to place an advertisement and get in a band. He was soon playing in clubs, doing three or four set nights and honing his craft. The singing came much later. While playing for local bands D.C. started singing a song or two and then one night after belting out some screaming blues lyrics the other singer stepped aside deciding to do backups for the strong voiced man. He is affectionately called the black David Lee Roth by his band mates (D.C. is Irish, Italian) because early recordings of the band had folks noting that there was a Roth style to his phrasing but with a deeper Delta blues tone.

Keyboardist Ken Hrezik
joined DVB after deciding to return to his rock roots. Ken played keyboards in several high profile Cleveland rock bands in the 70s. At times Ken would go back to the accordion (“Kenny Keys” started playing accordion when he was five) and do stints with polka bands just like he had done as a kid. He also started playing out again with rock and all occasion bands but was looking to use his skills at the high level he had when Cleveland truly rocked.
In 2006 Ken hooked up with DVB. The band was already a tight four piece group and when Ken added his expertise the song writing and stage sound went to new heights. Hrezik notes that his main influences have been Jon Lord, Todd Rundgren, and Gregg Allman among others. When the band mixes in a cover of the Brothers or Deep Purple to their live show you will hear those influences.

The rhythm section for Deja Voodoo consists of

Todd "Bassman" Becker
and newest member,

Steve Zavesky.
Todd has been playing bass in Cleveland and Boston since the 1970s and is as solid a bass player as can be found. Todd added many tasteful bass licks to the bands recordings. He has a knack for finding the bass lines that need to be there without overplaying. The other part of the DVB backbone is drummer Steve Zavesky. Steve replaced former drummer Wil Jones in 2008. Steve Zavesky’s playing mainly stems from his influence by all the British blues rock greats of the late 60’s and to 70’s. Those charming blokes incorporated the American blues and swing into their playing of solid rock and blues with an underlying jazzy, swingy, swagger and sway.
In a busy career of well over 1200 gigs so far he has added his talents to playing in tributes to some of rocks greatest including Hendrix, Joplin, The Doors, and the Grateful Dead. Steve has cut his teeth on stage and in the studio for over 25 years with many varied original rock and blues bands Living in Cleveland he has kept very busy and gained valuable experience with the abundance of traditional blues and classic rock gigs for which Cleveland is famous.
Playing in Deja Voodoo Band he gets to incorporate all of his influences, feel, experience and chops into a band of like-minded players giving their repertoire of originals and the bands interpretations of classics a big kick in the ass.